Organization by Person Category: Stability in the Face of Differences in Attentional Resources

Abstract

Study 1 addressed the hypothesis that relative to younger adults, older adults exhibit reduced frequency for incidental recall of behavioral information concerning other people in an impression formation paradigm but do not exhibit any decline in person-based organization in their recall. Findings were as expected and the age difference in recall frequency was attributable to the reduced attentional resources of older participants. Study 2 was an experimental analogue of Study 1, in which younger adults completed the impression formation task either under concurrent load or under no load conditions. Load was shown to reduce recall frequency but not the level of person-based organization in incidental recall. Findings support the view that person-based organization is automatic in that it requires little, if any, attentional resources.